Thoughts on Week 15 (2025): Green Bay Packers at Denver Broncos

What a nightmarish game that was for Green Bay. Entering Sunday’s game in Denver against the Broncos, the Packers were looking to add to their winning streak and stay on top of the NFC North. What happened instead was a game filled with a whole bunch of mistakes on all sides of the football and some bad injury luck. With this introduction out of the way, let’s get this over with.

The Packers once again deferred to the second half, resulting in the Broncos getting the ball first to start the game. Starting from their 31 yard line, the Broncos were driving down the field in the hope of getting their first points. However, their drive ended when RJ Harvey was stripped of the ball by Micah Parsons during a run play. The fumble was recovered by Edgerrin Cooper at the Green Bay 48, giving the Packers offense great field position to start their first drive. Early in the drive, the Packers faced a fourth and one from the Denver 43 yard line. Jordan Love scrambled for the first down before being pushed out of bounds by Talanoa Hufanga, who somehow wasn’t penalized after shoving Love’s head to the grass. After a false start penalty on Rasheed Walker and a 1 yard pass to Jayden Reed, the Packers were able to get to a third and short with a pass to Reed that went for 13 yards. Instead of doing a run up the middle, they did a pitch play that went nowhere after Josh Whyle messed up a block. Whyle ended up leaving the game with a concussion, which I hope is not too serious. The field goal attempt by Brandon McManus was good from 53 yards out, giving Green Bay a 3-0 lead with 7 minutes left in the first quarter. Even with the Broncos starting at their own 40 due to a good kickoff return, the Packers defense was able to force them to go three and out. The ensuing punt was downed at the Green Bay 6, but the Packers had to start at their own 3 due to Edgerrin Cooper being called for a personal foul penalty (which was baloney since the punter flopped). Despite that awful field position, the Packers were able to move the ball down the field. Two plays into the drive, Jordan Love connected with Luke Musgrave for a 26 yard pass that gave the Packers first and 10 at the Green Bay 31. On the next play, Love connected with Romeo Doubs for a 26 yard pass completion that gave the Packers first and 10 at Denver’s 43 yard line. A few plays later, Love connected with Matthew Golden on an 18 yard pass that got the Packers into the red zone. Unfortunately, the Packers had to settle for a field goal after Romeo Doubs couldn’t catch a pass in the end zone on third and 6 from the Denver 8 yard line. The field goal was good, increasing the lead to 6-0 with a little over 14 minutes left in the second quarter. The Broncos started their next drive at their own 30 after the kickoff return. The Packers defense got them in a first and 20 after a holding penalty when the lineman held Micah Parsons (FINALLY). After that, Javon Bullard got called for a bogus unnecessary roughness penalty on the next play, giving the Broncos a first and 10 at the Denver 44. After that penalty, the Broncos were able to get the ball into scoring range. The drive ended when Bo Nix found Michael Bandy for a 20 yard touchdown pass. The extra point was good, giving Denver a 1 point lead with under 8 and a half minutes left in the second quarter. There was some penalty that gave the Broncos a chance to kick from midfield. That kickoff landed out of bounds, giving the Packers the ball at their own 25 (would’ve been the 40 yard line if not for the penalty). Three plays into the drive, Jordan Love found Jayden Reed, who was wide open for a catch and run that went to the Denver 39 yard line. After two runs by Josh Jacobs, the Packers had first and 10 at the Denver 20 yard line. Two plays later, Josh Jacobs was able to run for a 9 yard touchdown. However, the score was nullified due to an illegal shift penalty on John Fitzpatrick. The Packers were able to score a touchdown anyway thanks to a great catch by Josh Jacobs in the back corner of the end zone. Unfortunately, Zach Tom hurt his knee on the play, resulting in Darian Kinnard subbing in for him for the rest of the game. The extra point was good, giving Green Bay a 13-7 lead with 4:29 left in the first half. The Packers defense was unable to keep Denver out of the end zone on their next drive. It didn’t help that Courtland Sutton caught a pass that went to the Green Bay 22. A few plays later, Lil’Jordan Humphrey caught a 5 yard touchdown pass from Bo Nix despite the fact that there were multiple defenders near the pass. The extra point was good, giving Denver a 1 point lead with less than 2 minutes left in the first half. The Packers did get into scoring position on this drive. Due to poor timeout management, the Packers had to settle for a field goal to take a two point lead at halftime. Thankfully, McManus made the kick from 35 yards out, giving Green Bay a 16-14 halftime lead.

The Packers started their first possession of the second half at their own 29 yard line after the kickoff return by Emanuel Wilson (who played this game while being sick). At first, it looked like the drive was going to end in a three and out after Jordan Love threw an incomplete pass intended for Matthew Golden. However, Riley Moss was called for pass interference on the play, giving the Packers a first and 10 at the Denver 40 yard line. Josh Jacobs took the ensuing handoff all the way for a touchdown thanks to some good blocking. The extra point was good, increasing the lead to 23-14 with 13:59 left in the third quarter. The Packers defense was able to force the Denver offense to go three and out on their first possession of the third quarter, giving the Packers an opportunity to break the game open. On first and 10 at the Green Bay 19, the Packers offense decided to try a deep pass. Jordan Love threw a deep pass to Christian Watson, who was covered one on one by CB Patrick Surtain. Love’s pass was slightly underthrown and Surtain made a great play to intercept the pass. To make things worse, Christian Watson had to leave the game after Surtain landed on his shoulder area. After the interception, the Broncos offense was able to move the ball down the field for their first touchdown of the second half. Bo Nix had multiple passes that went for more than 10 yards, including the 14 yard touchdown pass to Courtland Sutton, who somehow got into the end zone by just enough. The extra point was good, cutting the lead to 23-21 with over 9 minutes left in the third quarter. During Green Bay’s next possession, Jordan Love was able to scramble for a gain of 24 yards to convert a third and 13. After that big play, the drive stalled as there was a run that lost a couple of yards, an incomplete pass, and a 10 yard sack of Love. The ensuing punt landed in the end zone for a touchback, but the Broncos started at their own 30 thanks to a holding penalty on Isaiah McDuffie. The Packers defense should have gotten off the field a couple of times during this drive. They made the Broncos face a third and 13 only to allow a 12 yard catch and run on third down and a QB sneak that gained 2 yards. After that, Xavier McKinney should have picked off a pass that was thrown his way. Right after that drop, the Broncos got another first down thanks to a 16 yard pass to Troy Franklin. Two Packers players were lost to injury on back to back plays. First, Quay Walker got injured during a 6 yard run by RJ Harvey (but returned later). Next, Micah Parsons was held by a lineman, which forced Micah to adjust his approach to Bo Nix. During that adjustment, his knee popped and he went to the ground in pain. He did walk to the locker room with some trainers, but it was indeed an ACL tear, meaning that his season is over. To add salt to the wound, the Broncos scored during the drive thanks to a 23 yard touchdown pass to Troy Franklin. They tried for the two point conversion, but failed, resulting in the score being 27-23 at the start of the fourth quarter. The ensuing kickoff landed in the end zone for a touchback, giving the Packers the ball at their own 35. The drive started with 2 runs by Josh Jacobs that totaled 14 yards. Later in the drive, Jordan Love found Matthew Golden for a 27 yard pass completion that gave the Packers a first and 10 at the Denver 18 yard line. The drive stalled after that, and the Packers had to settle for a field goal. The kick was good from 37 yards out, cutting the lead to 1 point with just under 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter. The Packers defense was once again unable to stop the Broncos from getting into the end zone. The 13 play drive that covered 65 yards in 3 and a half minutes ended when RJ Harvey ran it in from 5 yards out. The extra point was good, increasing the lead to 8 points with 7 and a half minutes left in the game. The Packers tried to answer back on their next possession, but that drive ended quickly when Jordan Love’s pass bounced off of the hands of Dontayvion Wicks to Riley Moss for the interception. The Packers were able to get a couple of more chances to tie the game, but both possessions ended in a turnover on downs. The Broncos ended up winning the game by a score of 34-26. With this loss, the Packers are now 9-4-1 on the season. Also, this marks the first loss with the all-white "Winter Warning" uniforms.

(Here are the “lowlights” of this game, provided by the NFL’s YouTube page. Click on “Watch on YouTube” if you’re interested.)

On offense, the Packers were doing well for the most part until halfway through the second half. Jordan Love threw for over 200 yards in the first half, which included some good deep completions and a touchdown pass to Josh Jacobs (who made a great catch ) late in the second quarter. However, things changed with the offensive line during that touchdown catch by Josh Jacobs. On that play, Zach Tom hurt his knee and missed the rest of the game. Darian Kinnard did well enough until the game was at the point where the Broncos defense could just get after the quarterback. Jordan Love unfortunately threw two picks in the second quarter, with the first one being a deep pass that Patrick Surtain made a great interception on. The other one was when the ball bounced off of Dontayvion Wicks’ hands and into Riley Moss’ hands. In addition to Zach Tom being out, Christian Watson’s injury messed up the offense. After that first pick, the offense was only able to score three points as some drives ended in a turnover on downs (in addition to the turnovers). Thankfully, Zach Tom and Christian Watson won’t have any long term concerns with their respective injuries, with Watson potentially coming back the next game. Everyone needs to be healthy and ready for these last few games, including the next one on Saturday against the Bears in Chicago. Play calling needs to be solid and every possession has to end in points. Hopefully they start the game red hot and finish strong.

On defense, the Packers did not have their best game at all by a long shot. For one thing, the pass rush didn’t get a single sack of Bo Nix. Also, the defense was unable to capitalize on a few turnover opportunities. There were missed picks a plenty on Sunday, including a couple by Xavier McKinney. If McKinney was able to catch that deep pass for an interception, I think that the injury to Micah Parsons wouldn’t have happened. Even then, the injury was a non-contact injury as he landed awkwardly from an adjustment and his knee popped. He knew that it was the worst case scenario, which is a torn ACL. Due to the timing of the injury, he’ll most likely be out for the start of next season (which was the case for Christian Watson’s injury last season). Micah’s presence will be missed, and it will be up to everyone else to step up without him. Tackling needs to be much better than on Sunday, the interception opportunities need to be taken advantage of, and there can’t be too many points allowed. Jeff Hafley has a tough task ahead of him due to not having Micah on his defense for now. Hopefully he can get his unit ready to stop the Bears on Saturday night.

On Special Teams, the Packers had a few mistakes, as per usual with that unit. There were a few penalties, a punt by Daniel Whelan that went into the end zone for a touchback, and a muffed kick return that didn’t make it past the 20 yard line. At least the Packers didn’t allow a punt or kickoff return for a touchdown in Denver and there were no turnovers on that unit. Brandon McManus made each kick, including a 53 yard field goal early in the game. Thankfully, the Packers didn’t allow any field goal or punt attempts to get blocked, which would have given the Broncos even more momentum than they already had. If the Packers screw up too much these last few weeks, I have a feeling that Rich Bisaccia might not last long in Green Bay.

Overall, this loss to Denver was tough to see. Not only did the Packers mess up in the second half with plenty of mistakes on all sides of the ball, but they also suffered a few injuries on Sunday. Thankfully, the injuries to Zach Tom, Christian Watson, and Evan Williams weren’t too serious and they should be back soon. However, Micah Parsons’ ACL injury will force him to miss the rest of the season (and potentially the start of next season as well). This injury is yet another piece of adversity that the Packers need to overcome as they get close to the playoffs. They haven’t clinched a berth yet, but they should do it relatively soon as long as they win the games in front of them. Next up for the Packers is the second game in three weeks against the Chicago Bears, who lead the NFC North at 10-4. Whoever wins this game on Saturday night at Soldier Field will most likely win the division. I’ll be back for the recap of that game next week. In the meantime, I just hope the Packers players can get healthy and get ready for the final three weeks of the season. Have a great week, everyone. Go Pack Go.